That behind which lie your childhood days
Shut, to be seen never as before,
But through memory's gentle haze.
Sword and dagger, helm upon your head,
The visor lifted high, your spirits light;
Buckled in bright armour, gauntleted,
Caparisoned in dragon red and white.
I see your eyes, you're eager for the life
Of freedom and the new world that you'll find,
Whether peace and joy or war and strife,
A place in court or blowing in the wind.
The Knightly Code to be upheld forever,
To fight, and live, or fight and die,
To serve the weak and poor, and never
'To cheat, or steal, or tell a lie.
Your youth is gone, now boldly forth
To places new where never you have been,
To seek your fortune, riding to the North,
To make a start anew, afar, you're keen.
To find your fortune, lad, and more;
Life, love and happiness you think you'll get,
Although both Luck and Fate may this ignore,
And end you in a muddy ditch; and yet -
No-one could sway you from this path,
The noble and chivalrous thing to do.
Your mother and sister tried; I could but laugh,
For, at your age, I did it too...
His name is Arron of Zerredh...
He is a Dragon Knight, and can turn into a dragon. There are complications with this. He is a human (originally... someone in Winters Twilight said he was an elf but I didn't argue)
He comes from another world in which there are not any Elves (or at least, he doesn't know about any) but there are Dragons in the northern lands. These Dragons are warring between themselves dn with diverse evils such as troll armies, stone elementals etc. Thus the Dragons gather armies of strong humans. To their very best fighters they may give rewards, or quests. Or both.
He left home in the Southlands and walked north, joining caravan guards and a couple of warbands on the way for training. Then when he got far enough north, he ran into a group of people in white tunics with red dragons on, and signed up for a *very* intense course of training...
Arron excelled in lancework and mounted swordsmanship, his horse is a grey mare (without a name: it just goes by "Hey horse" or "grey mare" or "stubborn git!" as occasion arises, but nevertheless it is a strong battle-trained mare, slightly irritable and stubborn but otherwise normal) He carries lance, war dart, a lovely sword and a general riding shield. He rides, travels (and on occasion sleeps) in his torso & arm chain mail and part plate armour (forearm guards, leg riding armour, breast and black plate, shoulder guards, but not a lot else)
Arron has been sent off on a quest. Just a month or so after being given dragon form magic his Dragon Lord, Zerredh, sent him off through a Portal to who knows where with vague instructions to get a particular item; he does not know what it is, where it is or anything about it except that he will know it when he sees it and getting it will enable him to catch a portal back home.
Dragon form complications... Arron can't control it. If he gets angry enough, he'll change. If he goes into battle, he'll most likely change, sometimes at inopportune moments (just enough time to leap off the horse in the middle of a charge, before it gets crushed) The dragon form comes with its own set of rules most of which he hasn't really discovered yet. It can fly, which he enjoys, but is not very good at yet. It can breathe fire, which he doesn't know about yet. It can do some forms of magic, which he also doesn't know. And then there's the problem about changing back... which seems a bit like a radioactive atom's half life. It will decay, but scientists have no idea how to tell when a *particular* atom will change...